Shapeshifter
by KaetanaSkyewind
Summary: A changeling assassin who has grown up in isolation journeys out into the world. Joining up with a group of adventurers sets her on a dangerous path where she will face great threats and be forced to reconsider her preconceptions… Set in the Pathfinder universe, somewhat follows the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. Please critique!
1. Prologue

Prologue

Starday, Arodus 18

My last journal is full, so it is time to start a new one. I will start as always by introducing myself.

My name is Zana. I am female, although like all of my people I can be anything I choose. I am 17 years of age but I will be 18 in just under a week. I have been in training for almost two years now and when I finally come of age I will be allowed to leave the enclave and serve my family.

I am excited to be able to see the outside world. My teachers and Raz tell me much of the humans and their culture but it will be better to see it for myself. My teachers tell me that humans are dangerous and not to be trusted, although Raz says that they are fun to play with. I am not sure exactly what he means by that and he won't tell me.

Raz says there are many kinds of humans, with many names. We call them all human because that is their most common name, but they also have names like elf, dwarf, halfling, and gnome. Raz tells me about how they are different and how they look, so that I may know how to blend in when among them. Humans are the easiest, for they look much like us, although their skin is pink and their hair brighter. Elves are thin and tall, with pointed ears like knives. Raz says that elves like to hug trees, which seems strange to me. But humans are strange and not like us.

I have seen a dwarf. He tried to trespass on the enclave, so the guards killed him. Our teachers wished us to see what a dwarf looked like, for it is always easier to learn a form from looking at the real thing rather than seeing a fellow family member take on its appearance. I learned the form, but I was distracted by the smell and color of his blood. Human blood is dark and red, unlike ours. The smell reminded me of other things, but I will not write of them now.

Raz says dwarves like to live underground like us, but much deeper and in far greater numbers. This is the danger of humans. There are far too many of them, and far too few of us. This is why any trespassers must be killed, even if they do not find the door. We cannot risk the humans finding our family, for they would surely kill us all.

I must leave to go to training now. I will write again tomorrow.

Sunday, Arodus 19

There is no training today. Instead we spend this day in honor of Norgorber. Sometimes Raz brings me something from the outside to use as my offering, but he is still away on a mission. So instead I must offer blood, as do all the others who are too young to leave the enclave. I do not mind. The pain from the cut is fleeting, and the priest says that the blood strengthens Norgorber. It is by Norgorber's power that our family is able to remain hidden and safe so I am happy to offer what I can.

The priest says that like us, Norgorber is hated by many humans. Followers of Norgorber take the lives of humans, and this is why they hate us. I do not think this is fair. They take our lives just as we take theirs. Why is it wrong for us to do it and right for them?

The priest says once, long ago, we used to live on the surface with the humans. Back then there were few of us, and all lived disguised as humans. As more of us came to be, we tried to reveal ourselves so that we might know others of our kind and be recognized as our own type of humans. But the humans rejected us. They said we were abominations, said that our powers of shape changing made us untrustworthy. Those of us who had lived with and married humans were accused of having murdered the real spouse to take their place. The humans wanted nothing but to kill us, so we fled, and hid.

Then there was the Founder.

Thirty years ago, the Founder gathered together a group of many of us. He found an ancient ruin. The aboveground structures had decayed and collapsed, but the underground passages and rooms were intact. He made this place our home, our enclave.

Over time our numbers increased. We found more of our people, and the Founder welcomed them into our family. Our numbers grew until the Founder felt there were enough to attack a nearby human city.

The attack failed. We had underestimated the humans and their numbers. Even though each of us fought as many of them, it was not enough. We retreated back to our home.

The Founder was badly injured in the battle. In order to assist him in leading the family, the Council was created. The wisest of our family sit upon the Council, providing us with direction. Though the Founder still leads our family, all of his orders are relayed through the Council. Their word is law. And it was they who came up with a new plan. Rather than attack the humans directly, we would work within them, playing them against each other. Subtle assassinations would work better to undermine the humans than assaulting them with an army.

Our assassinations went well at first. But eventually we attracted attention. A group known as the Red Mantis witnessed one of our killings and followed our agents back to the enclave. Our guards tried to eliminate them but were overpowered. For the only time in the history of our family, humans entered the enclave.

Fortunately they had not come to kill us. But they did have demands.

Our family was far too talented at assassination to be wasted on killing a few targets for free, they said. The Red Mantis wished us to take paid contracts as well. They would acquire the contracts, our family would do the killing, and the rewards would be split between us and them. The Council did not like this, but we had little choice. We could not risk the Red Mantis exposing us to the humans.

In time, the arrangement became more acceptable. Humans were still dying, and blaming each other for the deaths. The money we received allowed us to make the enclave more comfortable and to acquire better gear. Though some still resented the Red Mantis for forcing us into this deal, most came to view them as business partners in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

I can write no more, for it is time for the offerings to begin.

Moonday, Arodus 20

I have finished my training for the day. Today we sparred with knives, and though I now have many cuts they will heal. And I did well. Only two of the others did better than me.

I have two more days of training, and then I will be of age.

I am waiting in the common area for Raz to return. His team is due to return tonight, but they are running late. I am not surprised. He often stops by Magnimar to pick up wine or luxuries to sneak into the enclave.

He also does other things in Magnimar that I do not like. He does not actually tell me this but the scent of perfume on him makes it clear what he's been doing. And this is not disapproved of among our family, for we are few in number still.

Perhaps when I am of age he wi

Toilday, Arodus 21

Raz's team returned last night, with Daevin badly hurt. Raz and Pax were supporting him, and a bandage soaked with blood was wrapped around his torso. His eyes were open, but rolled back in his head.

Raz told me to go bring our priest, and I ran to do so.

I waited anxiously in my room for the next hour until Raz finally came back. He told me Daevin is alive, but the priest says he will be unwell for many days. Raz says they fought a paladin of Abadar. He hit Daevin with a weapon that somehow caused Daevin to revert to his natural form, and cut deeper than the hit should have. A bright light shone from the paladin's weapon, and Daevin and Pax were sent flying back, blinded. Raz was able to use his magic to curse the paladin, and killed him before he could harm Daevin and Pax again. They had Daevin drink a healing potion, but it seemed to have little effect. The paladin's magic had hurt him badly.

But Daevin is safe now, at least. Many that have gone on missions have not been so lucky.

Last night was all too similar to that night four years ago, and it left me shaken. I think Raz noticed this, because after he finished telling me about Daevin he showed me a bottle of wine he had been keeping hidden in his room. We drank and laughed until I could no longer keep my form constant, and then Raz helped me into bed and told me good night.

Wealday, Arodus 22

Tomorrow I become of age! Raz brought me a present a day early – a magical dagger he said he found on his last mission. It will serve me well when I finally take part in my first mission.

I visited Mother's candle in the temple today. I think she'd be proud of how I've done, and what I'll do. I hope that my actions will honor her. And I hope that the lives I take in service of my family will help to avenge her death.

Oathday, Arodus 23

So much has happened; I hardly know where to begin! Last night Raz and Pax and I went down into the lower catacombs and had a secret party. There's normally a guard posted there to keep us from entering the catacombs, but I think Raz paid him off because he wasn't there last night. We had fresh sweets that Raz had brought from Magnimar, and explored the crypts of the humans who used to live here. Pax found a necklace hidden behind some cobwebs and gave it to me. It's an interesting little human trinket, I quite like it.

After a few hours Pax went back upstairs to go to bed, but Raz and I stayed down there together all night.

When I woke up this morning, Raz was already awake. He told me it was time to go to my coming of age ceremony, and that he had a special surprise for me.

The ceremony was short but exhilarating. Our priest gave me the blessings of Norgorber, and the Council presented me with my new armor. Next, they gave me my first assignment. Typically newly of age family members guard the entrance to the enclave, or make runs to the nearby cities for supplies. I was shocked when instead of one of those assignments, they told me I would be going with Raz on his mission tonight. Daevin was still too injured to go, and Raz had recommended me as a temporary replacement.

Raz has told me the job is simple. We will need to sneak into a noble's mansion and locate him while avoiding the manor's guards. Raz will then kill the noble and take his place. I have not been told why Raz is taking his place, for Pax and I are supposed to take the body as soon as the target is eliminated. I am just excited to be able to finally see the outside world!

I must prepare my equipment, for we will be leaving soon!

Fireday, Arodus 24

Everything has gone wrong. I failed my family in every way last night. I can barely hold the pen to write this, but I must try. I must start from the beginning.

Taking my first steps out into the night was glorious. A cool breeze blew on my face, and stars illuminated the outer ruins of the enclave. Raz and Pax brought me over to animals that are called horses, which we would use to get to the city. Raz showed me how to get on and stay in the saddle, and explained that the horses were trained to follow his and I would need to do nothing except stay on.

We reached the city within an hour, using rope and grappling hooks to scale the city wall. Raz and Pax led me to an alleyway a few hundred feet away from the mansion. Pax explained that since Raz would be replacing our target, we could not kill anyone else, or else suspicion could be cast on him. Raz used his magic to create strange noises to lure the guards away, and we crept in behind them.

We used the grappling hooks again to get up through an open second story window. Raz gave me a description of the noble and ordered me to check the first floor while Pax checked the current one and Raz the third.

The first few rooms were empty, but the fourth contained a human woman cooking something. This was the first human I had seen up close, and she was fascinating. Her hair was red like human blood, her irises a pale green. Her nose was slightly crooked and her cheeks flushed red. My first human. The image of her is burned into my mind.

The woman must have seen me out of the corner of her eye, or maybe she sensed me watching her, because suddenly she turned towards the doorway. Seeing me she screamed, and backed away. I stood in panic for a moment, wondering what to do.

The woman grabbed a knife off the table and brandished it at me, shrieking for the guards. I ran and grabbed her, trying to smother her screams while she tried to stab me with the knife. After a few grazes from it I grabbed at her wrist, trying to wrestle the knife away from her. We struggled and the knife ended up going into her stomach.

She fell, the blood pooling beneath her. And I smelled that smell again…except this time rather than troubling me, I felt it strengthen me. The scent that once meant one of my family was dead now heralded the death of a human. A death offered to Norgorber, in honor of my mother, and of all my people who had suffered and died at human hands.

A guard burst into the room. He looked at me, and then the body on the ground, and before his gaze could return to me, I darted into the hallway. All around me I could hear the sound of an alarm bell going off, and heavily armed humans searching through the halls. I ran up the stairs to the window we had entered from, and nearly collided with Pax. He told me to stay close to him and help him fight while we waited for Raz to get there.

Two guards ran down the hallway, saw us, and yelled warnings to surrender. Pax lunged at the first one, slashing him across the throat. The first guard fell to the ground. Pax sprang towards the second human but the man was ready and blocked the attack with his shield. Another guard ran down the other hallway, trapping Pax and I in the middle. I drew my dagger and barely managed to block the swing of the guard's sword in time. As it was, the strength of the blow staggered me and I stumbled backwards, bumping into the wall. The guard advanced on me and swung his sword in a horizontal arc that I barely managed to duck under. Seeing an opening, I darted forward and sunk my dagger into the side of his neck.

Pax had managed to kill his guard as well, but heavy footsteps from both directions meant that more were coming. I saw his glance dart towards the window, contemplating escaping and leaving Raz behind. But he quickly shook his head and readied his weapon for the next attack.

We stood back to back as five more guards rounded the corners, three from one side and two from the other. Standing behind two burly swordsmen I noticed an archer readying his bow.

I tried to yell a warning but the arrow pierced Pax's shoulder before he had time to dodge. He swore, but quickly switched his sword over to his uninjured arm and moved to attack the guards. The two guards on my side seemed less concerned by me, and their stances were loose and unfocused. I quickly threw my dagger at the closer one, managing to lodge it in his eye. The man screamed and fell to the ground. The dagger glowed and returned to my hand.

The second guard approached me, much more wary. When I went to dart at him he quickly lashed out, forcing me to block. He let loose with a flurry of heavy blows. I barely managed to block them; the strain from his powerful impacts was making my arm ache.

I shot a quick glance over at Pax and saw that he'd taken out one of his swordsmen but was still dealing with the second and the archer. Taking a risk, he lunged at the swordsman, managing to run him through but suffering a cut across his injured shoulder as he did so. Pax dropped his weapon with a yell of pain, right as the archer shot an arrow into his neck.

Pax fell, and as I tried to run towards him a heavy object slammed into the back of my head, knocking me to the ground. Head throbbing, I rolled onto my back to see the guard about to impale me.

The shadows behind the guard suddenly wavered, and Raz appeared, kneeing him in the gut. As the guard bent over in pain and surprise Raz wrapped his hands around the guard's sword and forced it into his stomach. Raz kicked him aside and rounded the corner. The archer shot an arrow at him that Raz easily knocked away. He suddenly vanished into the shadows, reappearing behind the archer and slitting his throat.

As the last human fell to the ground Raz ran over to Pax. He checked his pulse and a brief flicker of hope crossed his face. Pax was still alive, but not for long if we did not escape.

We used the rope to lower Pax to the ground. Raz asked me to carry Pax, but he was too heavy for me to lift by myself. Raz ordered me to wait with Pax while he killed the guards at the gate. Then together we carried Pax away from the manor and into an alleyway.

Raz told me there was a Temple of Norgorber here that would keep us safe long enough for the guards to stop looking for us, and that hopefully they would be able to help Pax as well. Four more guards died at Raz's hands in order for us to reach the temple unseen, but at last we made it. Raz spoke with the human priest at the temple while I waited with Pax, checking his pulse every few seconds. It was faint, but he still clung to life.

Raz came over and told me quietly that he did not have enough gold for the price the priest asked to heal Pax. He held out his hand and told me to give him my magic dagger. I did, and he brought it back over to the priest. The priest examined it, wiped the blood off it, and nodded to Raz.

Raz and the priest brought Pax into a back room while I waited outside. Several hours passed, and Pax and Raz returned. Pax was conscious now, but barely lucid. He leaned heavily on Raz to walk. Raz said that Pax would need more time to heal but would be able to keep a human appearance up long enough for us to escape the city.

We put human clothes from the temple on over our armor and walked to the gate. The gate guards looked oddly at us but did not stop us. Raz helped me up into my saddle and then lifted Pax up with me. He said I must hold on to Pax to keep him from falling off the horse.

We made it back to the enclave safely and Raz ordered me to wait in my room while he took Pax to our priest. It has been an hour. I know that Raz now speaks before the Council, telling them of my failure, of how Pax's life was nearly lost due to me. I know they will soon bring me before them for sentencing.

* * *

The Council ordered me to tell them my version of events. I did, and truthfully, even though it proved that I was to blame for Pax's injury and the mission's failure. I could not lie to the Council; none of us can.

I could sense their fury. I waited with head bowed as they debated what to do with me. Councilor Navar made the final proclamation. I am to be stripped of my rank and gear. I will be retrained for a year, perhaps longer, until the Council is satisfied that I will not be a liability. I will not be allowed to leave the enclave for any reason.

I write this now in my room knowing two things. One, that the Council's decision was the correct one. And two, that I cannot abide by it.

I have found a flaw in my family, and I will not rest until it is corrected. We live in isolation from the humans to be safe from them, but it also makes us vulnerable to them. We don't know enough about them. None of us leave the enclave until we are of age, and even then few are allowed to go anywhere except the location of their mission.

I can scarcely believe I'm writing this, but the Founder is wrong. The Council is wrong. The key to protecting our family is not avoiding humans, but understanding them. Living in ignorance only hurts us.

I know what I must do. I must leave my family. I must travel and live among the humans so that I may learn about them. It hurts to imagine being separated from my family, but this is what I must do to protect them. If the knowledge I gain could save the lives of those in my family, I must take this chance.

There will be guards posted. But what they don't know is that Raz has been teaching me some of his magic. I will cloak myself in shadow as he taught me, and they will not see me. And I will pray to Norgorber that he bless my cause, and hide me tonight.

I leave this journal behind so that my family might know why I have left. I am sorry for disobeying but I hope that you will forgive me one day. I am sorry for ruining the mission in my foolishness. I am sorry, Pax, that you got hurt because of me.

I am sorry, Raz.

Goodbye.

-Zana


	2. Chapter 1 - Persona Non Grata

**-Part One: Burnt Offerings-**

**Chapter One: Persona Non Grata**

Fireday, Rova 14

What a mess!

I suppose I should start as I always do, although that's what got me into this mess. This time I shall encode my diary with one of the ciphers my family uses.

My name is Zana, and I am 19 years of age. I am a female of the race the humans call 'changelings' or sometimes 'doppelgangers'. My people are shapeshifters, and largely distrusted by humans. For this reason, we take on human forms when walking among them. Until recently, I was Thia the elf. Now I am in the form of a human (an actual human, not an elf or dwarf or other kind of human) and going by my own name for once. This was a mistake, but I was so rushed and panicked when I signed on to this caravan that the only name I could think of was my own.

I am getting ahead of myself.

For the past three months I have been traveling with an adventuring company led by a dwarf known as Kalen Ironhammer. My fellow party members were another dwarf, a human, and a type of human I had not seen before called an eladrin.  
The dwarves and the eladrin were simple and easy to fool. The month I spent in the Elven camp learning their language served me well. But I apparently underestimated the human.

His name was Fenrik, and he was a paladin of a god I'm sure would hate me. I now know that he suspected me from the beginning, but he hid his suspicion well.

Tonight as I was just about to join my fellow adventurers for dinner, Fenrik asked to speak with me in his room. Failing to sense the trap, I followed him. He offered me a cup of tea and began asking me questions about where I was from and what my family was like. I raised the tea cup to my lips and responded with the made-up answers I had planned when first taking on this form.

At first I thought this had satisfied him. But then he pulled something out of his bag. A diary. MY diary. That lousy stinking paladin had gone through my belongings!

"It's odd that you say you're from the Mierani Forest," he said. "Because according to this you're from some place entirely different."

"You went through my stuff?" I asked, trying to distract him. "Are paladins even allowed to do that? I think you may be a terrible paladin."

"Silence!" he snapped. "I know what you are now, doppelganger. And I know that there are more of you, hiding underground, plotting to murder innocent people just as you were surely plotting to murder us!"

I sighed. The truth then, I thought. Maybe this paladin will be reasonable? "Alright, you've got me. I am a changeling, or a doppelganger if you prefer. But I swear I didn't have any intention of harming you or anyone else in this party."

"Don't waste your breath with lies, abomination. I know what you and your kind do."

I sighed again, and then frowned. "This tea tastes odd. Did you put something in it?"

Fenrik grinned wickedly. "What you taste is juice from the brain of a carrion crawler. Already it should have spread throughout your body, leaving you paralyzed." He stood and drew his scimitar.

"Wow. I'm flattered that you think my skills are so much better than yours that you'd have to cheat in order to kill me."

"Be quiet, and face your god," he said, and raised his sword over his head.

Paladins are powerful, being the direct conduit of the strength of a god. But they're also arrogant. They assume that because of their connection with their god they can never be wrong, that there can never be a possibility they didn't plan for.

Well of course I didn't drink the tea.

I leapt nimbly to the side as Fenrik swung his sword in a downward arc, neatly bisecting the chair. Better it than me.

As I drew my weapons Fenrik pulled his sword out from the remains of the chair, sputtering. "How-how did you resist-"

"You really think I'd trust tea from _you_? Although I didn't think paladins were even allowed to use poisons since it's not 'honorable'. You really are a terrible paladin."

I'd managed to get ten feet of distance from him, enough that he wouldn't immediately be able to take advantage of the longer reach of his weapon. I analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each of us. Neither of us was in our armor, which would be more of a disadvantage for him than me. He was a lot stronger than me, which would make blocking hard, but I was a lot faster. If I stayed mobile I could keep him from being able to line up a good hit on me.

I had to kill him. He'd said there were more of us underground, which meant he'd read enough of my diary that he could extrapolate the location of the enclave from it. And I could not let humans find my family.

Once again I'd gotten myself into a mess that I wouldn't be able to clean up without blood.

Fenrik charged across the room much faster than I'd expected, his scimitar glowing with divine radiance. He caught me off guard and managed to score a solid slash across my torso before I got out of the way. I could feel the holy magic seeping into me, weakening me.

I hate paladins.

Offering a quick prayer to Norgorber I ducked under his guard to slash at his legs, barely managing to hit him in my weakened state. I back flipped away, narrowly avoiding his retaliatory strike, and found myself up against the wall.

The room was far too small to give me enough room to stay mobile. It was time to try a different tactic.

All of my people have some slight psionic powers, although most are too weak to do more than catch brief, unfocused images from a person's thoughts. There are a few among my family that are talented at it, however. My mother was one of them. And she'd taught me a few tricks while she was still alive.

If I know a name and a brief description, I can search someone's thoughts for memories of that person. A short glimpse of their face, or a whisper of their voice. It lasts for only a moment, but this has helped me more than once with improving my disguises.

I had a new plan. Fenrik was not the only one who goes through people's diaries.

I shapeshifted into the form of a man in his 50s, his face wrinkled and his eyes kind. "Fenrik," I said, my voice deep and gravelly, "this is not what Sarenrae teaches. We do not kill those who have done no harm."

"I will not fall for your tricks, abomination!" shouted Fenrik, but he seemed slightly off balance. I took the opportunity and darted past him, scoring a large gash across his thigh.

He recovered and turned, bringing his sword down in several overhead blows that I blocked with great difficulty. I leapt back and took the form of a young man, not much older than 15, with brown hair and blue eyes like Fenrik's.

"Father, I don't understand. Why are you trying to kill that woman? She has done nothing to you, and you taught me that killing is wrong."

"You will not use the shape of my son against me!" Fenrik made a vertical swipe at me, but his aim was off and I easily avoided it. I tossed my dagger into his shoulder, rolling behind him. When he pulled the dagger from his shoulder and turned, he saw the form I had been saving for last.

A beautiful human woman, her hair long, blond, and curly, her eyes bright and glistening with tears. She looked down at the cut on her torso, and then her eyes rose to meet Fenrik's.

"Fenrik…why? Why are you hurting me?"

"I…I…" Fenrik stuttered. The loss of blood was finally affecting him.

"Why didn't you protect me, Fenrik? Why did you let them hurt me? Why didn't you save me in time?"

"I tried, Sera," said Fenrik, his hands shaking. "I tried so hard…but I was too late. I killed all the ones that did this to you…but killing them didn't bring you back." His weapon fell from his hand, clattering on the floor, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I miss you, Fenrik."

"I've missed you too, Sera." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, sobbing into my shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry."

"I forgive you," I whispered in his ear, and ran him through with my sword.

Fenrik's arms went slack around me, and I pulled my sword back out of him, blood splattering on my clothes. Fenrik fell to the floor, an odd look of peace upon his face.

I took a moment to catch my breath, and then started looking for something to bind the wound on my stomach.

There was no point in hiding the body. The best I could do was put it in a closet or under the bed, and people were sure to see all the blood on the floor anyway. It probably wouldn't be until the next morning, but my party would come looking for Fenrik and me eventually.

I picked up my diary from where Fenrik had set it on the table and tossed it in the fireplace, watching it burn. I'd been foolish again. I say paladins are arrogant, but so am I. I assumed that no human would be smart enough to suspect me. I must be more careful.

I quickly retrieved my armor and belongings from my room and went out the window. I had to leave Magnimar before the body was found. I needed to become someone else. Making sure no one was watching, I took on a new form - a human with pale skin, blond hair, and pale green eyes. Perhaps a little closer to my true form than it should be, but I was feeling homesick.

This new form would protect me temporarily, but my armor and gear would still be recognized by anybody in my party. I could hide out in the Temple of Norgorber, but the risk of a member of my family being there was too great. I had to leave town, and preferably with others to cover my escape.

I went to another tavern several blocks away and started looking at the postings on the job board. One stood out to me – a job escorting a merchant caravan to a small town called Sandpoint, due to leave in a few hours. I followed the instructions and found the merchant at the stables, quickly signing the contract without even reading it.

I have been writing this while waiting for the caravan to be ready to leave. The other adventurers who will also be guarding this caravan are here, and they are a fascinating bunch. I will write of them soon, but for now I must help ready the wagons to leave.

This can't possibly go any worse than last night.


	3. Chapter 2 - Faux Pas

**Chapter Two: Faux Pas**

Moonday, Rova 17

I have been too busy to write. It seems being a caravan guard is a much harder job than I expected. We have been attacked three times already – once by wolves and twice by small groups of little creatures called goblins. Apparently the goblins are a common problem in this area, but are not unified enough to provide an actual threat. They certainly are annoying, though.

I said I would write more of my fellow guards and now I shall. Many of them are types of humans I have never seen before and I have had to be careful to learn what they are called without arousing suspicion.

Two of them look similar to elves, but they are clearly not. One is something called a drow, and his name is Gor. He looks much like a normal elf but his skin is grey and his hair snow white. Everyone in the caravan seems to avoid him, and I have heard whispers among the caravan hands that he is evil and a bad omen. I have not seen Gor do anything threatening whatsoever, so perhaps these drow are like my own people in that they are hated for no other reason than being what they are.

The other not-elf is a bizarre creature I have heard called a gith. He has knife ears like an elf but his nose is flat and his skin a sickly yellow. Apparently his name is Izzussan, but he spends most of his time reading a book so I do not know what he is like.

There is a horrid creature called a half-orc. He is bulky, green, and brutish, with large tusks coming from his mouth. I did not catch his name and I do not care. All he seems to do is drink and belch, and I've caught him leering at me several times. If he tries to touch me I will slit his throat.

Finally, there is a human named Eyward. I'm pretty sure the other guards don't suspect me at all, but this human already has me worried. I have been having trouble remembering to keep my ears as human ears and not elf ears. Mostly I have been keeping them hidden under my hair, but occasionally, when I forget, they peek out. I think Eyward may have noticed. I must be very cautious around him. He is a priest and worships a deity called Iomedae, who I know dislikes Norgorber and his followers so I must be careful.

Hopefully this won't turn into another disaster.

Fireday, Rova 21

Finally we have arrived in Sandpoint! It is a sleepy little town, but good enough to hide out in for a little while. Actually, the priest Eyward has been talking about our group taking on some other jobs while in Sandpoint, so perhaps I will travel with them for awhile.

The merchant who hired us has asked us to meet him for dinner at an inn called The Golden Trout, where he will treat us to dinner and then pay us our wages. I am leaving now to get paid, and then I will decide whether to stay with this group.

* * *

Remember when I wrote how hopefully this wouldn't turn into a disaster? Well, it's already halfway there.

We met the merchant at the Golden Trout, where he told us that although he'd still be happy to treat us to dinner, there had been some issues with the trading of his goods and he wouldn't be able to pay us our wages until tomorrow. Apparently tomorrow is the day of a celebration called the Swallowtail Festival, which honors the goddess Desna. The merchant suggested that we stick around for one more day and enjoy the festival, and he would pay us at the end of the day.

He also had another suggestion. There are festival games that teams compete in, with a large prize for the team that wins the most events. The merchant said that if we'd like to compete, he'd cover our entry fee if we'd agree to share the winnings with him. Most of the party seemed to be in favor so I reluctantly agreed. Perhaps seeing what sort of absurd games the humans have invented will be educational.

We sat down for dinner, and our waitress immediately began flirting with the half-orc. Apparently some humans have abysmal taste. She was also glaring at me, as if afraid I would try to steal the horrid belching green man away from her. Idiot woman.

After ten minutes of waiting for her to bring me my food when everyone else had theirs, I got fed up and told the party that I was going for a walk. I could see Eyward watching me suspiciously as I went out to the lobby. I quickly stole a cloak from the coat closet, shifted into one of the handsome male forms Raz had liked to use, and then re-entered the inn.

A second waitress immediately ran up to me, eagerly getting me a table about twenty feet away from the one my party was sitting at. I made up a lie about being short on gold, and the waitress nodded sympathetically, patted my leg, and agreed to only charge me half price.

It still amazes me how simple some humans are.

Unfortunately, before I could get my dinner a group of eight or so thuggish-looking men entered the inn. The ringleader marched up to my party and insisted that they were in his seats. Eyward tried to be diplomatic, pointing out that there were plenty of open tables for him to sit at, but the thugs were clearly drunk and having none of it. I got up from my seat and started to head for the exit, but before I could get halfway there a brawl broke out.

Two of the thugs decided to target me, but plates to their drunken faces quickly sorted them out. Of course that attracted the attention of the leader, who swung at me. The waitress came over to try to help me and got backhanded for her troubles. The thug got a few good hits on me – for the record, if I'd had my weapons he would have been dead already, but they had been confiscated at the door. However Izzussan had managed to retrieve his sword somehow and quickly came over to help me deal with the thug.

Badly injured, the ringleader tried to escape out the window. I dove out after him, changing form and dropping the cloak as I did so. I dashed after the thug, picked up a rock, and hurled it at his head, nearly knocking him unconscious.

Eyward and several others had made it out the back door by that point, and quickly cornered and subdued the ringleader.

I saw Eyward's eyes catch sight of the cloak on the ground, then dart over to me, then narrow. And I knew then that he knew. He might not know exactly what I am, but he could tell something was wrong with me.

He approached me, commenting how convenient it was that I'd shown up just as they were finishing up the fight. He asked me if I'd seen the man the cloak belonged to; I said I'd seen a man by that description running off just as I arrived.

He glanced down at my arm, noticed a bruise on it, and asked where I got it. Thinking fast, I told him a few men had tried to mug me, and failed. I thanked Norgorber that I was not bleeding, for if I had been he would have seen that I did not have human blood.

The look in his eyes when he asked his next question terrified me. "What are you after here? What are your intentions?"

For a fleeting moment I considered trying to kill him. But it was pointless. Not only was I unsure I could win, but there would be countless witnesses. All I could do was tell the truth, and hope that I was believed for once.

"I don't have any bad intentions. I don't mean you any harm."

Eyward stared at me for a long moment. I was so terrified I couldn't breathe. Finally he nodded. "Alright," he said. "If you mean no harm to the innocent, then you have nothing to fear from me."

"That's good to know," I stammered out as he turned and walked back into the inn.

The aftermath of the bar brawl was far less exciting than the fight itself. The guards came, the waitresses testified that the ringleader had started it, and they hauled him off to sober up. The waitresses offered us free rooms for the night in the inn – and I saw the first one approach the half-orc and offer him HER room, ugh – which we accepted. I need to sleep now, for we are still planning to take part in the Swallowtail Festival games tomorrow morning. I have locked the door and the windows, and I will try to get to bed. But I suspect the fear of being murdered in my sleep will keep me awake a long time tonight.

Everything keeps going wrong. I'm always running away from something. One of these days, I won't be able to run far enough.


	4. Chapter 3 - Casus Belli

**Chapter Three: Casus Belli**

Starday, Rova 22

I do not have time to write much lately but I will try to write what I can.

I was actually quite impressed by my party's skills when we took part in the Swallowtail Festival games. Gor slyly stole first place in the card contest and Izzussan won the drinking contest. Eyward managed to win the race, which impressed me. I guess constantly fighting in chainmail makes one fast.

I won the pole climbing contest, in part by using my shapeshifting to subtly lengthen my arms, allowing me to climb faster. It may have been a bad call on my part though; I think I noticed Eyward looking oddly at me when I did it. Regardless, we did end up winning first place in the festival games.

After receiving our prize money we got cleaned up and then headed to the newly built cathedral for the mayor's speech. As we walked there Gor told me he had heard that the old cathedral was destroyed in a fire that killed the previous priest of Desna.

The mayor had barely begun her speech when we heard screaming from behind us. Several panicked townspeople were sprinting towards us, and as they got closer we could make out their words: "Goblins! Goblins are attacking!"

A giggling goblin with viciously sharp teeth suddenly dropped from the rooftops, skewering the villager that was farthest away with his knife. A large group of goblins riding feral-looking dogs rounded the corner and chased after the remaining villagers. From another alleyway, goblins on foot carrying torches charged out.

Oh, and they were singing.

"Goblins chew and goblins bite!" screeched one in a sing-song voice as he sliced at a fleeing woman's legs, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Goblins cut and goblins fight!" chimed in another, setting fire to a house.

Our party launched into action. Izzussan moved up to engage the dog riders, with Gor and I following behind. Meanwhile Eyward targeted the pyromaniac goblins so as to stop them from setting more fires.

Izzussan interposed himself between the dog riders and the fleeing villagers. The front rider took one last swing at the woman on the ground but Izzussan deflected it, allowing her to get to her feet and run.

"Stab the dog and cut the horse!" the front goblin sang as he sliced at Izzussan's torso. Izzussan followed up with a quick counter attack, and then Gor shot a sizzling bolt of dark energy that sent the goblin flying off his dog.

I moved in on another dog rider. "Goblins eat and take by force!" he told me helpfully. I did my best to ignore his awful singing as I slashed his dog across its belly. The beast yelped and fell over, knocking the goblin to the ground.

"Goblins race and gobli-" I swiftly cut off his head and stopped the wretched noise.

A female goblin that had been riding in the back suddenly raised her rod in the air and chanted some arcane words. A cloud of murky darkness settled over us. I froze in place, listening to the sounds of battle around me and trying to pinpoint my enemies' locations.

"Goblins slash and goblins bump!" shouted a torch-wielding goblin as he popped out of the darkness behind me. I quickly turned and knocked away his torch before he could hit me with it. Next time, try not singing while you're attempting to sneak up on someone, buddy.

A sudden barrage of flaming arrows rained down on us; several struck the goblin and one caught me in the arm. I quickly finished off the goblin and headed towards where I thought Izzussan and Gor were.

I finally located the edge of the cloud and stepped out of it, finding myself standing near Gor. A goblin popped out behind me only to be blasted away by the drow. Giving him a grateful grin I headed towards the female goblin that had summoned the cloud.

"Burn the skin and mash the head! Goblins here and you be dead!" she sang as I approached.

"Would you please SHUT UP!" I shouted as I sliced her across the face. She shrieked and raised her rod, casting another spell. I suddenly found myself swarmed by a massive cloud of insects.

I frantically swatted at the bugs until they finally dispersed. When I was able to see again I saw the goblin had run across the square and was now fighting Eyward.

Izzussan finished the last dog rider and we all sprinted over to Eyward and the goblin. Within a few more hits the goblin was nearly dead, and Eyward shouted for us to spare her for questioning. Hearing this the goblin pulled out a vial from her pouch and drank it. She collapsed and began writhing on the ground.

Eyward grabbed the vial and quickly determined that she'd consumed hemlock poison. As he began getting out the proper herbs to serve as antidote I heard the sound of coughing coming from a collapsed building. Izzussan and I went over and saw that a barely conscious man was struggling to get out from under a pile of rubble. Together we pulled him out and determined that his injuries were superficial.

Town guards were rounding up the remaining goblins, who had surrendered upon seeing the female caster go down. Eyward told us that the female would recover, and had the guards take her to the jail with the other goblins. He hopes to get useful information from her later.

The man we'd rescued introduced himself as Aldern Foxglove, a noble visiting from Magnimar. He was very grateful to us for saving him. He was especially enthusiastic in thanking me, remarking on how beautiful his savior was while staring at my chest. He offered to pay for rooms for us at the Elk Lodge as long as we'd like, and to take us boar hunting in a few days time.

Moonday, Rova 24

We have been joined by a fascinating creature called a goliath. His features are human but he is far broader and taller, with grey skin and interesting markings. He is a great improvement over the half-orc, who hasn't been seen since he joined the Golden Trout waitress in her room. I hope she killed him. I really do.

The goliath is a member of the town guard, and Sandpoint's sheriff Zachary Hemlock has asked us to help him investigate how the goblins got into the city. The goliath has an odd name that sounds like Kelluk, but I have not seen it spelled. He seems nice enough.

A gnome bard from the Golden Trout has started tagging along with us. His name is Fima. He has an irritating little squeak of a voice. Eyward has been discussing a song about his grandfather with him - something involving a bridge.

Tomorrow we plan to go on the boar hunt with the noble we rescued and then further investigate the goblin attack.

Toilday, Rova 25

The hunt went well. Aldern is pleasant enough to look at and, more importantly, quite wealthy. He asked me to stay with him last night. This morning he presented me with a magic weapon as a gift. I think this will prove to be a profitable relationship.

We are continuing to investigate how the goblins entered the city. We returned to the Sandpoint jail to speak with our goblin captive, who is apparently named Queasy. Eyward offered her life in prison instead of a death sentence, and she agreed to tell him what she knew. However, she wouldn't speak in front of the other goblins, so we took her to our rooms at the Elk Lodge.

According to Queasy, the goblin attack on Sandpoint was ordered by a woman with a lobster claw for a hand. A half-elf in the town is apparently enthralled by her, and it was he that helped the goblins enter through holes in the wall near the south gate. The goblins were a diversion, though. While they were attacking, the lobster woman entered the crypt of the old priest of Desna for reasons of which Queasy was not aware.

Once Eyward had asked all his questions, the goblin tried to convince him not to bring her back to the jail, saying she was not safe there. When he refused, the goblin tried to escape – right as a group of mercenaries burst into the building.

"Kill the adventurers, and the goblin too!" shouted the lead mercenary. "Don't leave any survivors!" Queasy shrieked and dove under the bed, while the rest of us drew our weapons and prepared for a fight.

The goliath - whose name I have learned is spelled Ceallach - charged towards the mercenaries first, and though he scored a hit he immediately found himself overwhelmed by the mercenaries' attacks. Izzussan moved in to help, placing some sort of ward around Ceallach to deflect attacks away from him. Two archers in the back shot at Ceallach - the first shot was deflected by the ward but the second got through and downed the goliath.

Eyward rushed forward, bathing the area in a holy light that both revived Ceallach and weakened the mercenaries. I took advantage of the fact that the mercenaries were clustered together around a prone Ceallach and threw a handful of knives at them, badly wounding several.

Izzussan swirled his sword around and sent several mercenaries stumbling back. One of them did not move back fast enough and was sliced across the neck. The archers, clearly enraged at the death of their friend, fired upon Izzussan and he fell to the floor. Gor and I teamed up on another mercenary, the drow blasting the mercenary backwards just in time to be skewered on my sword.

I moved towards Eyward to cover him while he healed Izzussan, not noticing the leader of the mercenaries coming up behind Gor. The man sliced him across the back, and the drow stumbled. As Gor was trying to recover an arrow caught him in the chest and he fell. Before any of us could stop him, the leader impaled the drow.

The leader advanced and swung at me but I rolled out of the way, and as he turned to track me Eyward charged him and slammed him with his shield. The mercenary was knocked to the ground, and before he could do anything else Eyward slew him with a slash from his longsword.

Izzussan and Caellach had finished off one of the archers, and the second looked like he was about to run. I sprinted towards him and slammed him into the wall, holding my dagger to his throat. The man froze, watching me with terror in his eyes.

"Who sent you?" I growled at him.

"I don't know, the boss handled that stuff. I was just doing what I was told!" he stammered.

"Well then, I guess you're useless to me, aren't you?" I pressed the dagger deeper into his throat.

"It was a half-elf! I saw him talking to the boss. I don't know his name though, I swear!"

I glanced over at Eyward. "Sounds like the lobster woman's friend didn't want us talking to Queasy."

At the sound of her name the little goblin poked her head out from under the bed. She ran over to Eyward and began clinging to his leg. "You see! Queasy isn't safe in the jail! Eyward must protect Queasy!" she shrieked.

"Queasy, you need to stay at the prison for now. The guards will keep you safe," Eyward said, trying to shake her off his leg.

"Eyward," I interjected. "Do you want this guy alive?" I pointed my dagger at the archer, who trembled.

"Let him live. We'll have the sheriff's men come and take him to the prison."

I shrugged, then slammed the pommel of my dagger into the side of the archer's head. I released him and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Izzussan and Ceallach had managed to pull Queasy off of Eyward, and the priest began binding Gor's body so he could be brought to the temple for resurrection. Queasy continued to plead with Eyward as she struggled to get free. Eyward eventually promised that he would try to arrange for her to come with him later and prove her loyalty. I truly hope he is lying about that, but I doubt I'm that lucky.


	5. Chapter 4 - Rigor Mortis

**Chapter Four: Rigor Mortis**

Wealday, Rova 26

Aldern Foxglove nonchalantly offered up the 500 gold pieces to have Gor resurrected – he really must be very wealthy to throw around money so carelessly. While the priests are working to resurrect Gor, Eyward went to try to find the owner of the cloak I stole that night at the Golden Trout. Luckily, I caught him talking to the waitress about the possible owners and offered my assistance. Since he had no good reason to refuse, he accepted my help.

At the first house we visited, a kindly woman assured us that her husband's cloak was not missing. Eyward was not sure how to find the house of the next man, Tarul Benroe, so I pretended to know the location and led Eyward on a wild goose chase. After an hour or so of stringing him along, Eyward was obviously on to my game, so I suggested we split up and look on our own.

Now that I was alone, I easily found the man's house. I shape shifted into the form of an attractive female elf and knocked on the door. A large human man with a thick beard answered. "Yes?" he asked, his eyes darting over my figure appreciatively.

"Did you lose a cloak at the Golden Trout on Fireday?" I asked him. He nodded and said he had.

"A priest is going to knock on your door soon," I told him. "He will ask you about the cloak. I want you to tell him you sold the cloak to a blond-haired man three days ago. Do this, and I will give you 10 gold now and 10 gold when the priest leaves."

The man agreed, the greed clear in his eyes. Ignoring his suggestive request that I come visit him again soon, I left the house and waited in a nearby alleyway for Eyward to show up.

When I saw Eyward coming I returned to my human shape and ran over to him. "Eyward!" I called. "I think I found the house."

Eyward went up and knocked on the door while I waited in the background. Tarul opened the door a crack, yelled "We don't want anything you're selling!" and slammed the door in Eyward's face. I snickered.

Eyward knocked several more times before Tarul finally opened the door again. Eyward showed the cloak to him, and Tarul claimed to have sold it as I'd instructed. He was a terrible liar, though, and I knew Eyward wouldn't be convinced.

Eyward asked Tarul for the name of the man he'd sold it to, and Tarul gave him a fake name. Eyward said he was clearly lying, and the man became incensed. He started yelling at Eyward to leave, waving his arms about furiously. Eyward told him that he would report him to the sheriff, and Tarul retorted that the sheriff and he were drinking buddies. Finally Eyward gave up and Tarul slammed the door shut.

It was worth the 20 gold just for the look of frustration on Eyward's face.

* * *

We have just returned to the cathedral to pick up Gor. While Eyward was discussing something with the priest, an acolyte came running in. Apparently the dead are rising from their graves and we are needed to deal with it.

Wonderful.

* * *

I am covered in blood and ooze and vomit and dirt. I am not happy.

We met Sheriff Hemlock just outside the graveyard. He explained that an aura of great evil was emanating from the crypt of the former high priest of Desna, and that it must be somehow causing the dead to rise.

Sure enough, upon entering the graveyard we were immediately swarmed by zombies. I opted to fight them mostly from range, letting Eyward and the goliath Caellach be the ones to get zombie slime all over themselves. The undead were frighteningly resilient and Eyward was nearly overwhelmed by several of them as they latched onto him, but eventually we managed to clear the area.

As we approached the priest's crypt, Caellach suggested he stay outside to guard the entrance, in order to prevent undead from coming in behind and flanking us. We left him outside and entered the crypt.

The crypt was dark and musty smelling, and as we descended down the stairs we could hear the repetitive thumping noise of undead trying to break out of their coffins. We entered a large chamber full of sarcophagi, with an obelisk reading "This crypt is dedicated to Desna" in the middle of the room. Behind it was a pool of water; Eyward said that it had once been holy water but was somehow being corrupted.

Eyward had only taken a few steps into the room when a sickly black ball of vomit came flying down from the ceiling, narrowly missing him. I looked up above me to see several zombies somehow clinging to the ceiling. Before I could do anything else one spewed necrotic vomit all over the drow and me.

It took a good twenty seconds to clear the grime from my eyes, and it was still all over my face. The others were busy trying to figure out how to pull the zombies off the ceiling so we could stab them, while also trying to avoid getting vomited on. The gnome Fima managed to use some magic with his lute to force them downwards, while Gor blasted several off the ceiling with bolts of dark energy. Eventually we destroyed all of the disgusting creatures.

After cleaning ourselves up as best we could, we proceeded down the hallway. I started to move ahead when I heard a click under my foot. Eyward pulled me back just in time for me to avoid the lightning blast that shot across the hallway.

Apparently nobody had bothered to warn us that the crypt was trapped.

I got out my thieves' tools and we worked our way down the hallway, with Eyward helping me spot the traps and me disarming them. We had just reached the end of the hallway when suddenly the wall burst open and a massive swarm of rats, wreathed in green necrotic energy, came flooding out.

We killed them, but it wasn't pretty.

We went through the hole in the wall and found ourselves face to face with the ghost of an elderly man in robes marked with the symbol of Desna. He seemed very confused and was hard to communicate with, but we eventually extracted a great deal of useful information from him.

The ghost was the former priest of Desna, Father Tobyn, who had been killed in the fire that burned the old cathedral down. He'd had an adoptive daughter, a girl named Nualia, beautiful and skilled at healing magic. She was both envied and feared by the other children for her unusual appearance. When she was 18, she had gotten pregnant by a local man who then fled town. She had an argument with her father about it and then had left for a while, returning no longer pregnant. Shortly after that, the cathedral had burned down, and she was presumed to have died in the fire with Tobyn.

But Tobyn told us that was not the case.

Nualia had returned to Sandpoint on the day of the goblin attack and broken into the crypt to steal her father's ashes, which she intended to use in some sort of ritual.

The ghost told us that there was more he needed to tell us, but the evil presence that was corrupting his crypt would have to be cleansed before he could speak with us more. He dissipated, promising that he would materialize again as soon as the evil was removed.

We are all exhausted and injured, so we have decided to barricade this room and rest for the night. Tomorrow we will go deeper into the crypt and cleanse it.

Oathday, Rova 27

Well, that was painful.

We found the source of evil in the deepest room of the crypt – and it just loved to throw fireballs at us.

When we first approached the room it appeared to be empty, save for a few goblin corpses. But as we were just about to enter the room one of the corpses began levitating off the floor. Strange arcane runes glowed on it, illuminating the room with an eerie red light. The corpse floated towards us. We tensed up, unsure how to react. The corpse suddenly shouted something in the goblin tongue and then scorched the hallway we were all standing in with flames.

We scattered, moving into the room so that we would no longer be clustered together. Fima scrambled for cover behind the rubble of a crumbled pillar and frantically started pulling his lute out of his bag. Eyward charged the floating corpse, his sword glowing with holy light, and his strike managed to sever the goblin's left leg. Izzussan and I circled around to the other side of the creature, keeping its attention split.

Fima, who up until now I had regarded as nearly useless - what kind of weapon is a lute? - came out from behind cover and played some notes on his instrument. The goblin began glowing with strange energy. The next time I hit the thing, I felt revitalized, and I noticed that the rest of the party was experiencing the same effect.

I guess the gnome is worth keeping around after all.

The goblin corpse blasted us all with fire again. I stumbled backwards, flesh sizzling, on the edge of losing consciousness. My arms and legs screamed in agony. I could barely keep myself standing, barely keep my eyes open. I squinted in pain as I used the last bit of willpower I had to hold my head up. I could barely see the monstrosity. I gazed up at the ceiling, hoping Norgorber would grant me one last request. A final surge of power went through me. I hurled my dagger, and watched it sail into the enemy's chest.

Another wave of fire, and I hit the ground. My sight went blurry and the room faded from view. My body searing with pain, my life ebbing away, I saw a pale figure walking towards me. I tried to summon the strength to stand, to go to her. We could finally be together again...

Mother looked down at me, a fond smile playing across her lips. She slowly shook her head from side to side, then turned and started walking away.

No! Don't go! Take me with you!

Divine light washed over me, and I was suddenly overflowing with life and energy. I surged to my feet, revitalized. I heard Eyward finish chanting a prayer, and saw him grin triumphantly as our entire party was healed.

We did not get to celebrate for long, however. The corpse turned towards Eyward and launched a sizzling blast of flame that sent the priest flying back into the wall. He crumpled to the ground.

As much as Eyward's keen awareness inconveniences me, I figured by now I owed him one or twelve. I sprinted forward and leapt on top of the goblin corpse, stabbing my sword through it. We crashed to the ground together, the goblin letting out one last blast of flame before going still.

Fima was able to awaken Eyward, and after a nice long rest we were ready to move on. Now that the source of evil was destroyed, we returned to the ghost of Father Tobyn to see what else he had to say.

He confirmed that Nualia was the "lobster woman" Queasy had told us about; apparently whatever dark force she now serves has been slowly mutating her arm. He also revealed that the half-elf that had helped her was named Tsuto, the bastard son of Lonjiku Kaijitsu, owner of the Sandpoint Glassworks. Tobyn told us that Tsuto had just murdered his father, and that his half-sister Ameiko was sure to be next if we did not rescue her.

We made a quick stop at the sheriff's office, explaining what we'd learned. The sheriff told us to go ahead and investigate the Glassworks grounds, but not to enter the building without his warrant unless we had proof there was a crime going on. We are on our way there now.


	6. Chapter 5 - Coup de Grace

**Chapter Five: Coup de Grace**

Oathday, Rova 27 (cont.)

Why is my life a never-ending string of disasters?

We made our way to the Glassworks. I went in ahead to scout, with Eyward and the rest of the party following a few hundred feet behind me. I altered the color of my skin to better blend in with my surroundings, and crept on ahead.

Near the door were several figures that were talking amongst themselves. Most of them were creatures called bugbears - hulking, vaguely goblin-like monsters with beady eyes and thick fur. The figure with his back to me was a thin humanoid in leather armor. Leather armor whose design was all too familiar…

Before I could fall back the figure turned, saw me, and smiled. I saw him point towards the entrance to the Glasswork grounds, and give an order I could not hear. I raced to get back to my party in time, but I was not fast enough.

Combat with the bugbears had already begun. I returned to human form and joined the fray, trying to catch a glimpse of the one I had seen. I could not find him, but moments later I felt the familiar dizziness of psionic powers clouding my mind. Now I wouldn't be able to see him even if I was looking right at him, and I suspected the same was true of the rest of my party.

I felt something brush against my skin as a small folded piece of paper was pushed into the neck of my armor. I withdrew from the battle slightly, and unfolded the note to read it.

_Zana_

_We have missed you_

_All will be forgiven if_

_you come back to us_

I felt hope, if only for a moment. Even though I'm doing what I do for the sake of my family, I've always dreaded that they'll never forgive me. The idea of finally returning, of being among them again…

My vision began to blur, and I found myself gasping for air. The color of my skin began to change rapidly as I lost control of my shape. Too late, I noticed the slight glisten of powder on the note.

Shapeshifter's Bane. It doesn't just work on us – people use it on werewolves too, and anything else that can take a shape that is not its own. A shapechanger who touches Shapeshifter's Bane begins to shift wildly, unable to control their shape. The process is so traumatic that it leaves the shapechanger too weak to fight off any attackers. And even if they do, the poison will likely kill them before they can find a cure.

I fell to my hands and knees, throwing up. I could feel that my party members were watching me, had seen what I was. I struggled to throw off the effects of the poison, to gather enough strength to fight them. I would die – there were simply too many of them for any other result – but at least I would die killing those who hated me.

A sudden surge of strength passed through me. I don't know for sure what it was, but I suspect that Norgorber wished me to live. Perhaps this means he truly does support my plan for my family. I stabilized my form. I would be stuck in my natural shape, but constant changing would no longer weaken me.

As I began to stand, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I went to throw it off when I saw it was Eyward. He was not brandishing a weapon. He looked at me and his eyes were full not of hatred or fear but...concern?

"Are you alright?" he asked, helping me stand. I reached out with my mind, tried to sense the presence of the one who had poisoned me. He was close…

"Which way did he go?" I asked Eyward, hoping he had been able to see.

"That way," Eyward said, pointing. "But you should rest-"

I charged in the direction Eyward had pointed. I could already feel the dizziness leaving my mind – I would be able to see him now. And I thought I knew who it was.

My fellow changeling was clashing blades with Izzussan when I arrived. He easily parried my attack with his offhand weapon, his attention still focused on Izzussan. He glanced at me and laughed. "Oh, Zana, you've always presumed to be the equal of your betters!" I knew who it was for sure now. Corress was only five years older than me. I wasn't sure how he'd managed to get put in charge of his own team, but I imagined his uncle being on the Council had something to do with it. He was arrogant and vicious, and I had never particularly liked him.

I slashed at him again but my muscles were still weak from the poison and he blocked my attack. But my attack provided an opening and Izzussan cut him across the collarbone.

Corress frowned and pulled a pouch from his belt. Recognizing it I ducked out of the way, but Izzussan was hit in the face by the blinding powder.

Corress laughed again, and went after me with a few easy to parry attacks. He was playing with me. He knew I wouldn't actually hurt him.

He looked over to see how his bugbear minions were doing, and his lips twisted into a scowl. I looked as well and saw the last of them fall to the ground, dead. Several of the party were already on their way over.

Corress turned and ran. Izzussan was already clearing the powder from his eyes, and together with the rest of the party we chased after Corress.

I caught sight of an elf running towards us. He must be one of the mercenaries the sheriff had said he would send us as backup, I thought. Corress being in natural form and the entirety of us chasing after him made it clear who he should target, so the elf shot an arrow into Corress's leg. Corress stumbled. With a grimace of pain he got to his feet and continued running with a heavy limp.

The second arrow bounced off the armor on Corress's shoulder, but the impact was enough to make him stumble again. His loss of speed enabled Izzussan and me to catch up to him. Corress drew his weapons and began to engage Izzussan. I circled around behind Corress and slammed the hilt of my sword into the back of his head, dazing him.

The fight ended quickly after that. The others in the party arrived and easily surrounded Corress, knocking him unconscious. And then there was just the party, and me.

I backed away from the group and watched them warily. Perhaps they had only refrained from attacking me before because they were occupied fighting the bugbears. Now that they had me at their mercy, they would likely want to kill me.  
I stood there, waiting for an attack that never came. Finally Eyward began pulling rope out of his bag and tying up Corress. "Zana," he asked, "is there anything special we need to do to keep him from escaping?"

"You…you aren't going to try to kill me?" I asked, barely able to believe it.

"Of course not. You helped us fight against him, why would we?"

"I'm a changeling. Humans hate us."

"Not all humans hate changelings."

That is an odd statement, and one I'll have to consider further.

At this point I realized that my hands were still shaking. I still hadn't taken an antidote for the poison. I rifled through Corress's gear and found the antidote, as I'd suspected I might. Corress might be arrogant but even he wouldn't use a poison so potentially deadly to himself without carrying an antidote.

They took away Corress's weapons and armor and tied a noose around his neck so that he couldn't just change shape and slip out of bonds. And then we moved on to the inevitable awkward question.

"You know him?"

"Yes," I told them. "He is…part of my family."

Thankfully I was spared being asked any more questions, because Corress regained consciousness.

Corress took in the humans around him, his lack of gear, and the rope around his neck. His gaze then fell on me. "Zana, how could you?"

"What other choice did you give me?" I replied sadly.

Eyward began asking Corress what he'd been doing at the Glassworks. Corress told them he'd been hired to help and make sure nobody interfered. He freely admitted that he'd had every intention of killing us, and I sighed.

Corress thinks he's a lot smarter than he actually is. If Raz had been in his place, he would have come up with a believable story about how everything had been a misunderstanding. He would have made the humans believe he was just as innocent as they think I am.

Corress told them everything. He told them that he and my family kill humans happily and quite often. He said it with no remorse, practically daring them to do something about it. He is a fool, and all that happened after that is his fault.

Eyward and the rest wanted to take him to the Sandpoint jail. I of course objected. None of my people would ever be granted a fair trial, and even if he was, they were sure to convict him and execute him.

I could not let that happen. I do not like Corress, but he is one of my family, and I would give my life to protect them.

As the rest debated what to do with Corress, I quietly retrieved a healing potion from my bag. Keeping it hidden behind me I subtly moved over to Corress and passed it to him.

So focused I was on keeping Eyward from noticing this, I completely forgot about the male elf who had joined us. He saw me pass the potion and shouted a warning, drawing his bow. He shot an arrow aimed at Corress's heart but I intercepted it, catching it in the shoulder. He quickly drew and shot a second one that I managed to deflect away with my sword.

I slashed at the rope Izzussan held that was tied around Corress's neck. Izzussan tried to move the rope out of the way but I was too fast and managed to sever it. Corress stood and drank the healing potion as I charged at the elf, launching two vicious attacks at him. The first he ducked out of the way of but the second slash cut him across the chest, badly wounding him.

I sensed the blast of psionic energy as Corress tried to blank the minds of the humans. But it was weaker than before, and I suspected it would not succeed against those with stronger will. Despite the injury I'd dealt to the elf, the party focused on attacking Corress. Eyward narrowly missed him, but Izzussan scored a hit, nearly killing him. The drow Gor raised his rod to cast a spell, but I caught his attention.

"Drow! Stay out of this fight and I will provide you a favor in return!"

"Like what?" he asked, considering.

"Anything you want!" I yelled desperately.

The drow lowered his rod.

The elf had caught his second wind and once more renewed his attack on Corress. This time I was not fast enough to block his arrow, and it hit Corress in the heart.

The smell of blood again. It seems I never can escape that smell, never can keep all of my family safe from the humans that want to kill us.

Screaming in rage and with tears welling in my eyes, I charged the elf, and cut him neatly across the throat. The elf fell to the ground as I tackled him, slamming my dagger repeatedly into his throat. Red blood splattered up onto my face and got into my mouth as I screamed in fury.

In time, my frantic stabbings slowed, the images of murdered family members gradually retreating back into the depths of my memories.

I knew how the humans would see this. They wouldn't realize I was just avenging the death of one of my own. They'd think I was a murderer, just like Corress, just like the rest of my kind.

And maybe they were right.

I stood and turned to face them. "You stupid human bastards," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "You…you will all pay for his death. You will all die." My gaze fell on Eyward and I thought of the news he had recently learned. "I wish your grandfather was not dead, so that I could kill him and you could feel how I feel." I clenched my fists. "You can't escape us. There are more of us than there are of you."

"Are you on their side, then?" asked Eyward.

The real question, of course, was 'are you our enemy now?' I was still not sure of the answer myself.

"I didn't want to be," I stammered. "But now look what you've done. That's what I get for trusting you."

"Zana," said Eyward, "the one word you cannot use to describe your treatment of me is 'trust.'"

Sometimes I think Eyward is truly naïve. Every human who has found out what I am has tried to punish me for it. Why then would I ever genuinely trust a human?

"How could I trust you?" I asked. "How could I be sure you wouldn't betray me?"

"The same way I could believe you wouldn't stab me in the back when I closed my eyes. I had to have faith."

"That's more than some of us can afford."

I waited, ready, but still none of the party moved to attack me.

Eyward was not happy. But he said that we could pay to have the elf resurrected, and that all would be well after that. He seemed willing to forgive my killing as a rash act done in anger.

But he also gave me an idea. If the elf could be resurrected, surely Corress could as well! I found the Bag of Holding that Corress carried with him and used it to store his body, telling Eyward that I just wanted to bury him. I knew I didn't have enough money yet to revive him, but with luck we will soon find enough treasure that I can afford it.

Eyward asked me to scout the Glassworks, and I did. I found it empty except for a few traps – easily avoided – and a man who was quite dead. It looked like liquid glass had been poured down his face. I also found a letter, which I passed on to Eyward and Izzussan.

To my dearest Nualia: I have done what you asked. I've tortured and slain my father, and burnt his body according to the rituals you gave me, in offering to Lamashtu. I am holding my sister captive so that you may have her for the final sacrifice. We will be journeying to join you in two days.

We concluded that Tsuto and any reinforcements he might have had were long gone, likely having heard the sounds of fighting out front.

Tracks on the other side of the Glassworks showed that a large group had left for a nearby town gate. At the gate we found the guard post unattended and the decomposing bodies of two men in the bushes several hundred feet away. This troubled me. The men had clearly been dead for several days, and yet no one had noticed they were missing. I knew the likely explanation, but I did not want to say it out loud for fear of how the others would respond.

My family never travels alone. If I was not careful, Corress would not be the only one of my family to die on this night.

We retrieved our horses from the stables and are now following the trail of Tsuto and his men, hoping to catch up with them before they reach their destination.

I still do not understand why Eyward chose to spare me. He is a priest – perhaps it was the will of his goddess. But Iomedae is no friend of Norgorber, so I know not why she would wish me to live.

I really don't get these humans.


	7. Chapter 6 - Memento Mori

**Chapter Six: Memento Mori**

Fireday, Rova 28

I am going to kill Tsuto. He shall suffer tenfold every pain he and his kind have inflicted on my family. I don't know how I will manage to do this without Eyward trying to stop me. But he had better not get in my way when the time comes.

I must start from the beginning.

Before we left to follow Tsuto's tracks, Eyward insisted that we bring the elf's body to the temple so the priests there could begin the rituals to resurrect him. While Eyward was explaining to the priests what had happened – thankfully leaving out that it was I who had killed the elf – we caught the attention of a paladin who had been worshipping at a shrine. I recognized the statue – Sarenrae.

The paladin was concerned by the plight of Ameiko, and offered to help us recover her. So he rode with us as we followed Tsuto's trail, making me incredibly uncomfortable the entire time.

After about three hours of riding, during which I managed to record my previous journal entry, Eyward spotted a group of goblins ahead. He suspected that they were working with Tsuto, and had likely been posted to stop anyone who tried to follow him.

I was reluctant to offer my solution due to the presence of the paladin. But I figured Eyward planned to tell him of my nature sooner or later. And Eyward's past actions seemed to indicate that he would protect me if the paladin decided I was in need of slaying.

We still had Corress's armor. I proposed that I put it on and take his shape, while disguising the party in heavy cloaks so that they might appear to be the bugbears Corress had been leading.

It worked, somehow. Apparently my reproduction of Corress's arrogant persona was good enough that the goblins believed me. Even when they noticed that my companions were clearly not bugbears, my imperiousness managed to convince them to back off. We made it past the goblins and continued to follow the trail. And the paladin did not make a single death threat against me, which was a nice change of pace from the last paladin in my party.

About an hour later, we found them.

Not Tsuto and his men, no. But the pale, lifeless bodies of the other two members of Corress's team. I leapt from my horse and ran to them, hoping and praying for them to still be alive. But they were cold and had been for at least an hour. Thin lines of blood around their throats indicated that they had been garroted.

No one said much. Perhaps they were worried that I was about to go on another murderous rampage. Finally Eyward asked if I'd like help burying the bodies. I refused, and placed them inside the Bag of Holding where they joined Corress. Soon I will find Tsuto. He will pay for this.

I got back on my horse and we carried on, continuing to follow the tracks. Night is beginning to fall, and I expect that Tsuto will make camp soon. And when he does, we will catch up to him.

He will know pain before he dies.

Starday, Rova 29

I have exacted my vengeance, but I do not feel remotely satisfied. I just feel strange and empty.

We found Tsuto's camp about three hours after sunset. A large group of hobgoblin and bugbear soldiers sat around a campfire, warming their hands and chatting to each other. Several tents were set up nearby, and the silhouettes of two humanoid figures could be seen inside one of them.

I once again took on Corress's form, and started to lead the party towards the campsite with the intent of bluffing our way to Tsuto. The soldiers looked up at us as we approached and started reaching for their weapons.

Before I could say anything the gnome pushed his way past me and started yelling. "Hey, listen up! I want to speak to the man in charge here!"

"Fima, shut up..." I muttered, nudging him with my foot, but he ignored me.

A half-elf in leather armor shoved his way out of the tent. "Who is -" He turned, saw us, and scowled. "It's the adventurers! Kill them!" The hobgoblins and bugbears scrambled to their feet, readying their weapons. Tsuto drew two longswords.

Four hobgoblin archers loosed a volley of arrows at Fima, badly wounding the gnome. He staggered backwards and darted behind me to hide.

Izzussan charged in amongst the archers, forcing them to back away from him. The paladin, Daryn, advanced on Tsuto. The half-elf lashed out twice at Daryn with his longswords but the attacks bounced off Daryn's plate armor. However, the attack proved to be enough of a distraction that it allowed a bugbear to sneak up behind Daryn and begin garotting him. A second bugbear melted out of the shadows to slash at Eyward before vanishing again.

Another barrage of arrows came down around Fima and I. The gnome ran off into the bushes and I dodged to the side, but not before one arrow caught me in the leg. Wincing in pain I sprinted over to Daryn, avoiding a swing from Tsuto as I went, and ran both of my swords through the bugbear strangler. The monster let go of the garotte and stumbled backwards, blood gushing from its wounds. Daryn tore the garotte away from his throat and threw it into the bushes, then turned and decapitated the strangler with his longsword.

Eyward sang out a hymn and Daryn and I were both bolstered with energy. I circled around Tsuto, and pretended to leave an opening. When Tsuto went after me I easily dodged the attack. Daryn punished him for trying to hit me with a righteous smite from his sword.

We heard a yell of surprise from behind us. The stealthy bugbear had appeared out of the shadows again and was attacking Gor. Daryn moved to help the drow while I focused on Tsuto. I attacked with a flurry of quick slashes, relishing each drop of blood that spilled from him. Tsuto tried to retaliate but the viciousness of my strikes kept him off balance, and he was forced backwards. He stumbled into the fire pit and sent embers flying, lighting up one of the tents. I heard a yelp of surprise from inside the tent and Fima came tumbling out of it. Tsuto tripped the gnome as he tried to dash past, and Fima fell to the ground. Tsuto quickly thrust his longsword into the gnome's chest before turning to face me once again.

"You should run," he snarled at me. "Run away or we'll kill you all." I heard a cry of pain and saw Gor getting slashed across the neck by the bugbear. "Run away if you want to live." Izzussan finished off another of the archers but the remaining two shot arrows into his stomach. "Run away like the coward you are."

"I'm not going anywhere, human. And you're going to pay for what you did to my family."

I drew a handful of knives from my pouch and threw them at Tsuto's face. He ducked out of the way of most of them, but one cut him across the cheek. I surged forward towards him, and as he tried to step backwards he tripped over the body of the gnome, hitting his head on the ground so hard he fell unconscious.

I pounced on top of Tsuto. The sounds of battle muted and the world shrunk until it was just the half-elf and me. "This is for Davris and Toril," I told Tsuto, even though he could not hear me. "This is for my brothers." I raised my sword above my head.

"Zana, wait!" yelled Eyward. I froze mid-stab, my sword inches away from Tsuto's neck. I looked over and saw that Daryn had felled the stealthy bugbear, and that Izzussan was chasing off the last of the hobgoblin archers. We'd won.

"Zana, we need to question him first," said Eyward, walking over and placing a gentle hand on my wrist. I sighed and sheathed my sword. "Fine," I snapped, and stood.

When we located Ameiko in a tent and untied her, she immediately went with a knife after the unconscious Tsuto. We barely managed to restrain her before she could slit his throat. Once we had her calmed down, we tied up Tsuto and woke him up. Eyward looked like he was about to ask the first question, but I was faster.

I took on my true form and got in Tsuto's face. "You know who I represent, yes?"

Tsuto grinned and nodded.

"Why did you kill my family members?"

"When the leader didn't show up, they wanted to go back and make sure he was okay. I didn't want them to run into you and give away our location, so I had my men kill them."

I punched him in the face. He spat out blood and then continued grinning, his eyes laughing at me.

"Zana, enough," said Eyward. "Tsuto, I need to know where you were planning on taking Ameiko."

"I will tell you nothing," snapped Tsuto.

"Tsuto, if you don't answer my questions, I will let Zana do everything she wants to do to you right now." I blinked in surprise, and I saw a look of shock come across the paladin's face as well. I hadn't expected Eyward to willingly allow me to harm Tsuto. Perhaps it was a bluff?

"Pain doesn't scare me," Tsuto told Eyward. Eyward sighed and then nodded to me. I stepped forward and grabbed Tsuto's left hand. I could scarcely believe Eyward was allowing this. I expected him to pull me away from Tsuto any moment.

I pulled on Tsuto's left thumb so I could clearly see the joint in the bone. This is for the first of my brethren that you killed, I thought, and severed the finger.

The half-elf let out a grunt of pain, but managed to keep from screaming. I tossed the severed thumb out into the bushes.

"Please, Tsuto," said Eyward. "If you help us find Nualia so we can stop her from leading the goblins to attack Sandpoint, the courts may be convinced to show you mercy."

"Nualia…will kill…all of you," muttered Tsuto, his jaw clenched in pain.

I looked over at the paladin again and saw his expression was one of pure horror.

Eyward gave me a slight nod and I grabbed Tsuto's right hand. The second for my second brother, I thought, and cut off the right thumb.

Another grunt of pain from Tsuto. Another severed finger tossed into the bushes. And yet I still felt nothing. No sense of satisfaction, no feeling of justice or that I'd avenged the deaths of the fallen. I just felt…empty.

"That's enough," said Eyward, but I was already done.

We went through Tsuto's belongings and eventually found an encoded journal. It took a few hours to crack the code, but eventually we were able to learn that Nualia was at a place called Thistletop Keep.

Tonight we camp, with Eyward and the paladin Daryn guarding Tsuto to protect him from Ameiko and presumably me. But I want nothing more from him. I don't even feel the need to be the one to kill him.

Hurting him can't bring back my dead family members. So what's the point?


	8. Chapter 7 - Dulce Periculum

**Chapter Seven: Dulce Periculum**

Sunday, Rova 30

Last night I had a dream. I was standing in an endless field. Thick fog extended in every direction, and I could barely see three feet in front of me.

A man dressed in black and brown stepped out of the fog, his hood pulled low so I could not see his face. I felt the aura of immense power from him and fell to my knees.

His voice echoed in my mind. He told me that Nualia's plan was an enormous threat, for if it succeeded it would bring Lamashtu great power. He told me that I must ensure that Nualia is killed if I wanted my family to continue to be safe.

I told him I would obey, and that Nualia would die by my hand. A cold wind whipped around me, and I awoke in my tent.

We are packing up now to bring Tsuto back to Sandpoint to face trial. Once we have dropped him off, we will head to Thistletop and kill Nualia. By the command of Norgorber and for the sake of my family I will not fail in this.

* * *

I have met the most fascinating creature. As we were preparing to leave Tsuto's camp an odd feline creature that Eyward identified as a cheetah was watching us from the bushes. Daryn said that cheetahs are not native to this region, so this was a very strange thing indeed. The cheetah followed us for a while before finally taking on the shape of a young boy.

A fellow shapechanger! And one who can turn into an animal no less! This is an intriguing discovery. I attempted to take on an animal's form as well, but only succeeded in making my face furry, which seemed to amuse the boy. Eyward says he is something called a druid. He travels with us for now, and I am excited to learn more about him!

When we returned to town I stopped by Aldern's room at the Elk Lodge to acquire the gold we needed to resurrect the dead drow and gnome. My talents made it easy to persuade him to cough up the 1000 gold pieces we needed. However, when I brought the money to the temple Daryn said that the priests were refusing to resurrect Gor, so I only had to turn over the 500 gold for Fima. This is good, because it means I can use the money meant for Gor to resurrect Corress instead! But I will have to visit a Temple of Norgorber to do this, and the nearest one I know of is in Magnimar. Perhaps once Nualia has been dealt with I can convince the party to stop by Magnimar.

Unfortunately, while at the temple we also found out that the elf's resurrection had been completed. So much work undone…I'm half inclined to kill him again, but in secret this time so that I am not implicated. But I suppose as long as I am eventually able to resurrect Corress, it is fair that the elf be allowed to continue living as well. Not that I forgive him, of course. I will not forget his eagerness to kill one of my family.

The elf has no memory of his death and the events leading up to it, which is good for me. For some reason he wishes to travel with us. The boy – who has given his name as Kat – seems to dislike the elf already. Smart boy.

Izzussan has opted not to join us on our trip to Thistletop, claiming he has business of his own to take care of. Personally I just think he's sick of our constant battles interrupting his reading time.

The sheriff has provided us with what information he has on Thistletop. Apparently we will first have to go through a hedge maze that is guarded by another of these things called druids. This one is a goblin however, so if it's anything like Queasy it will be a nightmare to deal with.

Speaking of Queasy, Eyward has persuaded the sheriff to release her into his custody so she can come with us. I can't imagine why Eyward would want to bring that horrible creature with us – clearly he has taken leave of his senses. Perhaps the goblin will have a tragic accident…

We leave now for Thistletop. I eagerly await the chance to slay Nualia and offer her blood as sacrifice to Norgorber.

Moonday, Lamashan 1

The trip to the hedge maze outside of Thistletop was mostly uneventful. We tied up our horses in a grove where they'll hopefully be safe and took a quick rest while Eyward placed some enchantments on our weapons. When he was finished we headed to the entrance of the hedge maze. Standing in front of it was a massive, ancient-looking tree. It looked to be over a hundred feet tall, with thick roots extending outwards from it. I could hear the chattering of squirrels coming from up in the foliage.

The young druid Kat broke into a grin as he saw it and started running towards the tree excitedly. When he was about twenty feet away, one of the roots suddenly lifted up from the ground and slammed into him. Kat went flying backwards, hitting the ground hard. As we rushed in to help him, more of the roots lifted up out of the dirt and started swinging towards us.

I ducked under a root that was coming straight for my head as I tried to get over to Kat. The boy was slowly getting to his feet, but an exceptionally thick root was coming down and was about to crush him.

The root slammed down on Kat. I started pulling out a healing potion in hopes that he had survived when I noticed a swarm of bugs around the root. The swarm flew towards me and suddenly formed together into Kat. He grinned at me and then shapeshifted into a cheetah, launching himself at another of the roots with claws extended.

Druids are awesome.

It was at this point that I noticed that the chattering of the squirrels had gotten louder. I looked up and saw hundreds of squirrels with beady red eyes charging down the roots towards us.

A group of twenty or so squirrels launched themselves at me, their combined weight knocking me to the ground. They swarmed all over me, biting and clawing. I squinted through the mass of furry bodies and managed to spot Eyward. I melted into my shadow and stepped out of Eyward's as the squirrels squeaked in confusion.

Eyward cast a quick healing spell on me, right as another root came swinging downwards. We scattered, and I moved in to get closer to the tree's trunk.

The elf (whose name I have learned is Elryn but who cares what that murderer's name is) was swatting at several squirrels that were crawling all over him. I quickly tossed a group of throwing knives at him - I hit most of the squirrels but also managed to hit the elf in the arm. He let out a small cry of pain. "Oops, my bad," I shouted sarcastically at him, and kept running towards the tree.

As I got within twenty feet of the trunk a large branch came crashing down towards me. I narrowly managed to leap out of the way. I recovered and charged up to the trunk. I stabbed my sword into the tree and activated the enchantment Eyward had placed on it.

My sword lit up with fire, scorching the tree. It shuddered and made a noise that almost sounded like a howl of pain. Before I could pull my sword back out a huge group of squirrels came up behind me and tackled me to the ground again.

This group was much larger than the first group that had jumped me, and I was nearly suffocating underneath the swarming beasts. I tried to tear them off my face but for every one I tossed away two more took its place.

A barrage of arrows suddenly rained down on us, taking out many of the squirrels and somehow all managing to miss me. I rolled away, getting to my feet and swatting the remaining squirrels off of me.

The elf was standing nearby, finishing off the squirrels on the ground with shots from his bow. He glanced over at me and smiled. "I figured I owed you for-" I scowled and turned away, yanking my sword back out of the tree and circling around so I could stab the trunk on the other side. The elf stared at me in confusion.

I was about to sink my sword into the trunk again when a smaller root wrapped around my ankle and yanked me upwards, dangling me upside down. A branch swung towards me and slammed into my body, scraping twigs across my face and cracking a rib. I cried out in pain and tried to swing my sword at the root that was holding me, but it kept twisting out of the way.

Kat came sprinting towards me. He leapt into the air and sank his teeth into the root, snarling and twisting it about. He managed to sever the root and I fell to the ground. "Thanks, Kat," I told him, clutching my side.

The elf came rushing over. "Sorry Zana, the roots were getting in my way. Nice work though, Kat!"

Kat hissed at him and then ran off towards another root, and I followed him. The elf watched us go, looking even more confused.

The fire that I'd started on the trunk had started to spread to the foliage. The giant tree let out another moan of agony, and the roots started to shrink inwards.

"Quickly, let's get inside the maze while it's distracted!" yelled Daryn. Eyward nodded in assent and we all sprinted for the entrance.

Once we were around a corner and out of sight of the tree we collapsed against the hedge wall. My cracked rib ached as I sat down, and I winced. Eyward noticed and came over to give it a look. He chanted a short prayer and I felt the rib heal. I thanked Eyward and he smiled before going to check on the injuries of the rest of the party.

Once we'd all recovered our strength, we proceeded to head deeper into the maze. As we went farther in the foliage got thicker and darker, some of it passing over our heads so we could only partially see the sky.

After about fifteen minutes we found ourselves approaching a small clearing with a few mounds of mud surrounded by footprints and splatters of blood. Several dead bodies, covered in mud, lay on the ground. On the other side of the clearing, twisted vines were wrapped around a small, moaning figure.

We hurried forward to help the person in the vines, but suddenly the mud mounds rose up and formed into roughly humanoid shapes. They began moving towards us in a threatening manner. The elf let loose with a barrage of arrows, while Queasy cast a spell that summoned insects to swarm around a mud man's head.

Eyward made his way over to the vines and started cutting the figure loose. It soon became clear that it was a female halfling. As the vines holding her thinned she pulled aside the few that remained and freed herself.

"What happened here?" Eyward asked the halfling.

"My party was overwhelmed by these mud creatures," the halfling explained.

Daryn and I moved in on one mud creature, taking up flanking positions on either side of it. The smell of the creatures was nearly overwhelming. I did my best to ignore it as I slashed at the monster.

The halfling moved out into the battle and assaulted the nearest mud man with a flurry of blows. While it was off balance she swept her leg under it and knocked it to the ground. Eyward moved around to the other side of the creature and stabbed it as it lay vulnerable on the ground.

"I am Eyward of Iomedae," he said, nodding to the halfling.

"Well met," she replied. "I call myself Miri-" and then she made a noise that I assume was her last name, but I have no idea how to write it. Something like Thrixstixwurm.

Miri attacked again and felled the prone mud man, but another launched a ball of mud at her, covering her in sticky goop. Yet another mud man did the same to Daryn.

The stench was horrendous and I shapeshifted my nostrils shut so that I could no longer smell it. Miri caught sight of me doing this and cried out in surprise. "A changeling!" she said, edging away from me nervously.

Typical human. And here I'd thought I was done getting this kind of reaction.

"Wait! I will explain," said Eyward hastily. One of the mud men started to head towards a distracted Miri but I came up behind it and stabbed my sword through its middle.

"You know her?" the halfling asked, appearing slightly less concerned now that I'd helped her.

"Yes," said Eyward. "I believe you can trust her."

Queasy moved out into the open where Miri could see her. "A goblin!" Miri yelped.

"Indeed," said Eyward with a smile. Queasy cast a spell that slew the mud man closest to Miri, and the halfling smiled as well.

Daryn finished off the last mud man with a holy smite and it collapsed into a pile of mud once more. As we stopped to catch our breath, Miri approached me.

"I am Miri," she said, extending a hand.

"I'm Zana," I replied, shaking it.

"I confess I was a little afraid at first that you might be an enemy," she said with an embarrassed shrug.

"Yeah. I get that a lot," I told her.

We spent a bit of time chatting with Miri. Apparently she and her party had been hired out of Magnimar to investigate the goblin raids. Several of her group had been killed by the tree and the rest died to the mud men.

While we recuperated I decided to take a moment to ask Queasy about the goblin druid that was in control of the maze.

"Queasy doesn't want to talk to the stinky changeling," the goblin replied, folding her arms and looking away. I growled and started to reach for my dagger in order to teach her some manners.

"Queasy," Eyward quickly interrupted. "Answer Zana's questions, please."

The goblin let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine. But only because Eyward says so."

I reluctantly put away my dagger. "So what is this goblin druid like?"

"Gogmurt is very powerful druid. He used to be goblin chief Ripnugget's second in command, but now Ripnugget listens to the lobster woman instead of Gogmurt. This makes Gogmurt very angry, he hates the lobster woman."

"Perhaps he might be willing to help us defeat Nualia?" Daryn suggested.

"Maybe," Queasy shrugged. "Queasy not know. Gogmurt hates longshanks, but maybe he hates the lobster woman more."

"Longshanks?" asked Miri.

"Big stinky not-goblins," Queasy explained.

"Well, talking to him is at least worth a try," said Eyward, and I nodded in agreement.

We have decided to set up watch shifts and rest here for the night. Tomorrow we will seek out Gogmurt and try to strike a deal. And if that doesn't work, we'll kill him. Either way is fine by me.


	9. Chapter 8 - Habeas Corpus

**Chapter Eight: Habeas Corpus**

Toilday, Lamashan 2

When I awoke this morning, a squirrel was staring at me. The furry beast was sitting about thirty feet away in the grass, just watching me, its nose twitching slightly.

I slowly started reaching for a throwing knife when I heard Eyward quietly say "Shhh. Wait."

The squirrel turned towards him and watched him curiously.

"We'd like to speak to Gogmurt," Eyward said. "We're willing to help him destroy Nualia."

The squirrel tilted its head to the side. After a moment it scurried off deeper into the maze.

Fifteen minutes later, as we were all waking up and having a light breakfast, we heard the pitter patter of soft footsteps on the grass. When we turned and looked, we saw that there were now twenty squirrels, still just sitting and watching us. One of the squirrels, perhaps the one Eyward had spoken to before, stepped forward. It squeaked at us, and then jerked its head in the direction of the left passageway leading further into the maze.

We slowly got to our feet and, with a nod from Eyward, started following the squirrel down the passageway. The other squirrels watched us unblinkingly as we went past.

As the squirrel led us deeper in, leaves parted and shrubbery moved aside in order to let us proceed more quickly. Eventually we reached a large clearing. A beautiful pond, full of tadpoles and fish, was in the middle, surrounded by a variety of fruit trees. In every tree sat hundreds of squirrels, staring at us with beady little eyes.

Sitting in the grass near the pool was a goblin. His ears were full of piercings and he wore a necklace made of bones and feathers. The squirrel that had been leading us dashed over to him and ran up his arm. It squeaked something to him and then the goblin turned and looked at us.

The goblin stood as we approached him. We stopped when we reached the water and stared at each other from either side of the pond. Finally he spoke.

"What are longshanks doing in Gogmurt's maze?"

"I think you already know the answer to that," said Eyward, nodding at the squirrel on Gogmurt's shoulder.

Gogmurt broke into a toothy grin. "Yes, Gogmurt know you want to kill Nualia. But why should Gogmurt help you? Why shouldn't Gogmurt just feed you to his squirrely pets?"

I rested my hand on the hilt of my sword, but Eyward was unfazed. "Queasy tells us you too want Nualia dead," he told Gogmurt.

"Queasy?" asked Gogmurt in genuine surprise. "Queasy is dead. Killed in raid on longshank town."

Queasy poked her head out from behind Eyward. "Queasy not dead!" she told Gogmurt triumphantly. "Eyward save Queasy from longshank prison and bring her here!"

"Hmm," Gogmurt mused. "Maybe you are worth helping. Maybe you can kill Nualia. Or maybe you are a trick sent by that dirty half-elf that helps Nualia!"

"We're not working with Tsuto," Daryn said. "We defeated him earlier-"

"-and killed him!" I interrupted. I was getting a feel for what impressed goblins. "After I cut off his thumbs!"

"Gogmurt would have liked to see that," said the druid wistfully.

"If you help us we'll do the same to Nualia, and to Chief Ripnugget. And then _you_ can be the new leader of the goblins."

The goblin pondered for a moment, then grinned at me. "Gogmurt help you. One condition though - you can kill goblin soldiers who get in your way. But you no kill goblin midwives and children. Deal?"

The rest of the party nodded in agreement. "Deal."

Gogmurt lead us to the other side of the clearing. He raised a hand and the bushes parted, revealing a large fortress on the other side of a chasm. A rickety rope bridge connected it to our side of the chasm.

"Gogmurt cloak you so you can get past guards and into fortress. But go quickly, it no last long." The druid spoke some words in the goblin tongue and magical dust fell over us, making our bodies appear see-through.

"Go now!" he told us. We stepped through the hole in the bushes and it quickly closed up behind us.

We made our way cautiously across the bridge, trying not to look down. The guards sitting by the entrance to the fortress were playing with dice and did not notice the bridge slightly rocking from side to side as we approached. Miri and I were the first to reach solid ground again. Miri crept up behind one guard and put him in a chokehold until he passed out, while I simply slit the throat of the other.

Now that the entrance was clear the rest of the party hurried to join us on the other side. We carefully entered the fortress, sneaking past goblin patrols. The invisibility started wearing off right as we approached a staircase. In front of the staircase was a deep pool of murky water with dark forms darting about inside it. Dangling from the ceiling above it on a rope were four struggling goblins.

"What are they doing there?" Eyward whispered to Queasy.

"That pit has big mean scary eels in it. When goblins make Ripnugget mad, he puts them there for eels to eat." An eel suddenly leapt out of the water, biting at one of the goblins before splashing into the water again. The goblins yelped in fear.

"Let's cut them down, and see if they'll help us," Daryn suggested.

We sent Queasy in first to stop the goblins from calling an alarm. Once she'd explained the situation to the dangling goblins, we came over and cut them down.

The goblins were eager to help us fight Ripnugget. We decided to send Queasy to the nursery to make sure the goblin midwives and children stayed safe, and headed upstairs with our new backup.

I took on the form of Nualia, which I had learned from drawings in Tsuto's journal and flickers of thoughts in his mind. The rest of the party pretended to be tied together as I led them up the stairs. The foolish goblins that had joined us charged at Ripnugget's guards, killing several but eventually all being slain. The ruse could have been ruined then if not for my quick thinking. I feigned surprise at the goblins' actions and suggested that it must have been a plot by Gogmurt. Ripnugget was convinced, if still slightly suspicious, and we managed to navigate to advantageous positions before launching our attack. In the end it was I who took his life, decapitating him.

We next captured a pitiful little goblin that was hiding under a table. I tried to get him to help us reach Nualia by threatening to cut off his ears, but I confess my heart was not really in it. Eyward was able to succeed with a more gentle approach, and the goblin agreed to activate a teleportation circle that took us to Nualia's chambers.

As we stepped out of the circle we found ourselves standing in a large room with pillars running along the sides. At the far end, on an altar surrounded by candles, lay an unconscious human woman. And standing in front of her, knife raised, was Nualia.

Hearing us she turned, dropping the knife and drawing her broadsword. Her skin was tan but her long hair was shockingly white. From just above her elbow and downwards her left arm was twisted, red, and demonic, with claws instead of fingernails. A multitude of scars criss crossed her stomach. As she looked over at us, her lips curled into a smirk.

In a strange sort of way, I found her beautiful. A shame she had to die.

Nualia snarled and lunged at us, a demonic glow trailing behind her sword as she swung it in a vicious arc. Daryn moved forward and blocked it with his own blade.

Nualia leapt back to get out of his reach and watched us, wary. She was waiting for us to make the next move, for one of us to approach her so she'd get a free swing as we moved in.

Obviously I wasn't going to give her that chance. I melted into the shadows and in an instant reappeared next to her, my face a perfect mimic of her own. She stared at me in utter confusion and I took the opportunity to sink my dagger into her shoulder. She screamed in pain and started to swing her sword at me; I ducked under it, slashing at her hamstrings as I rolled past her.

Eyward and Daryn moved in on the badly injured Nualia, burning her with the holy radiance of their attacks. She spun her blade around in a whirlwind, forcing them to fall back, but Miri and Kat in his animal form immediately leaped in to continue harrying her.

Blood spilling from her many wounds, Nualia's expression turned panicked. I saw her glance at the altar and the unconscious human on it. She had likely been seconds away from completing the ritual when we'd interrupted it – if she finished it now, if she killed that human on the altar, who knew what horrors Lamashtu would be able to unleash on us.

Nualia made a mad dash for the altar, her broadsword raised and ready to slice open the helpless woman. In a split second I calculated the shot and tossed my dagger into her leg. She stumbled just long enough for Daryn to come up behind her and run her through with his blade.

Daryn pulled his sword back out and Nualia let out one last quiet sob before collapsing to the ground, dead.

As I returned to my human guise Miri rushed over to the altar to tend to the human woman, whom she identified as a member of her former party.

We spent a while binding our wounds and now plan to rest for the night in Nualia's chambers.

Eyward is calling me over. He seems to want to speak with me about something.

* * *

Eyward and Daryn had an…interesting proposal. They believe that, using our position as the new heroes of Sandpoint, Eyward could possibly convince the villagers to be less prejudiced towards changelings by telling them that there was a changeling in our party.

I laughed and told Eyward that if he shared such information with the populace I would be nowhere near, for they were sure to try to lynch the party in an attempt to kill me.

Eyward said that he understood my reluctance, but asked me to listen while he outlined his plan. Eyward thinks that although some citizens will likely want to attack us, the good will we have earned by saving the town should be enough for them to hear Eyward out. He said he will point out that some of the humans in Sandpoint – like Nualia and Tsuto – had turned out to be more of a threat to the town than changelings. And he said that if the villagers do decide to attack us, the whole party will stand with me and fight to protect me.

I reminded Eyward that there are other ways to kill someone than by mob. Smart citizens would ambush me in an alleyway, or kill us all in our sleep. Eyward says that he can make preparations to prevent this, but I doubt their effectiveness.

Eyward and Daryn insisted that it is the will of their goddesses that the injustice of the prejudice in Sandpoint is dealt with. Eyward has already begun writing a speech to present in front of the people of Sandpoint.

I do not like this plan. It will likely end in the deaths of my fellow party members. But I must admit that I admire Eyward for wanting to try. Of all the humans I have travelled with, I have never met one who not only accepted me for what I am, but also sought for others to accept me as well. He is an interesting human.

Even if his plan succeeds, I doubt it will have any lasting impact. The people of Sandpoint could be convinced, but the rest of the world will continue to hate my people. And even if they were somehow convinced too, I know that my family would never agree to live peacefully among the humans. There is too much history, too much bad blood for my family to forgive.

Oathday, Lamashan 4

We have spent many days discussing plans with Gogmurt and Queasy. The goblins have agreed to leave Thistletop and travel to a new place where they can live peacefully. Kat has decided to stay with them until they leave, in order for Gogmurt to teach him more about being a druid. Eyward and Daryn continue to work on their speech.

I have reluctantly agreed to stand with them when they give their speech, but I have gained a boon in return. I told Eyward that I would trust him if he trusted me in return. He seems to like that word: trust. I told him that I needed to run an errand in Magnimar, and that I could not tell him what it was. I said he needed to trust me that it was important. He tried to ask me for more details but I only said that it was to prevent my family from seeking vengeance on the party, and that I could tell him nothing more. He seemed conflicted but finally agreed.

We leave now for Magnimar.

Starday, Lamashan 6

We reached Magnimar today. My party decided to wait outside the city gates while I accomplished my task. After making sure they weren't following me, I entered Magnimar. As I made my way towards the Temple of Norgorber, I felt as if someone was watching me. I did my best to subtly look for them, but I could not find anyone. Eventually I darted into a thick crowd and weaved my way through them until I was sure I'd lost my watcher.

At the temple I spoke with the priest. I recognized him as the same priest who had healed Pax on the night I left my family. The priest asked for an outrageous fee to resurrect Corress, more than two times the cost the priests in the Temple of Desna had charged to bring back the elf. The man could tell I was desperate and was greedily trying to take advantage of me. I tried to come across as threatening but he was unconvinced. Finally I came up with a plan that would appeal to his greed.

"If you charge me this much, I can't afford to resurrect my friend here, and you get no money. But if you charge me an amount I can afford, not only will you get my money, but he will want to pay you to resurrect his two friends."

The priest eagerly agreed to this, although he still charged me 800 gold pieces for the service.

I waited in the temple for eight hours, reflecting on the past two weeks. These humans are different from any I've ever travelled with. Never before have I allowed anyone who knew I was a changeling to live. And now there is a whole party of humans who possess that knowledge. Is this a threat to my family? The party has already killed one changeling, although they have also chosen to spare me. But they do not know all I have done. I think Eyward is purposefully trying to remain ignorant of that.

After eight hours, the priest told me that Corress was alive and awake. I asked him to give us some privacy, and went in to speak with Corress.

Corress was sitting up in the bed and as I entered his eyes rose to meet mine. I walked over to him and stared at him for a second. Then I slapped him across the face.

"You idiot!" I shouted, glaring at him. "What the hell were you thinking? Not only did you get yourself killed due to your stupidity, but because of it Toril and Davris were killed by Tsuto!" I saw Corress's eyes widen in dismay at the names of his friends.

Rubbing his jaw where I'd hit him, Corress made his excuses. They were all inadequate of course, but that was what I'd expected. I hadn't revived Corress so he could explain himself. I'd revived him because he was my family, and even though his idiocy made me want to scream, I still cared about him.

"Listen," I said. "Tsuto is dead, so he has been punished for his betrayal. I imagine you have enough gold that you can afford to revive Davris and Toril. But that still leaves you with a colossal screw-up you have to report back to the Council." I saw Corress's eyes shift uncomfortably.

"Here's the deal," I told him, pulling a note out from under my cloak. "I have here a letter I want you to deliver to the Council. It's sealed so don't bother reading it, the Council will know you've opened it. Besides, I imagine your uncle will tell you what is in it anyway. You give them the note," I continued, "and I let you claim credit for killing Tsuto. I don't tell them how badly you messed up here. You get to avoid being demoted, just for simply delivering a letter."

I also insisted that Corress not take vengeance on anyone in my party for his death. Corress agreed, and we parted ways.

I wrote my letter as best I could, and I can only hope that it is persuasive enough for the Council. I opened with a respectful greeting, and stated that if after reading my proposal the Council still wanted me to return home, I would obey. This was a lie; I am lucky I was not speaking to their faces or I would not be able to do that. I wrote of my party, and how they had continued to trust me even after discovering what I am. I explained that this made the party ideal bodyguards as I worked to accomplish the family's ends from outside the enclave. I proposed that I begin establishing a spy network, so that our family might have better information regarding our targets. I suggested for that to work, I would need to be kept informed of all operations in my current area, so that I might keep my party away from any assassinations in progress.

I believe that this plan will help my family. I can only hope Norgorber guides the Council to accept my proposal.

I am leaving the temple now to join up with my party. We will return to Sandpoint, and hopefully Eyward's plan and speech won't get us all killed.

* * *

**-End of Part One: Burnt Offerings-**


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